But I never had a network gig like that. In fact, I wouldn't have known who to approach to even have a shot at doing it. However, I have had a few local opportunities, including
the one I wrote about three years ago, remembering my fill-in work for the booth guy at WDCA-TV in Washington, DC, where my friend Mark Feldman ran the marketing department.
I was later hired to record intros and promos as the original voice of NewsChannel 8 when it launched as a local cable news outlet in the DC area in 1991. I also provided the recorded voice of a radio announcer for the stage comedy "Shear Madness" when it debuted at the Kennedy Center in 1987 (they used that recording until 1992!). And in the early 1980s, I did some voice and on-camera work for WTXX-TV (an independent station whose promotions guy, Mike Watt, was a fan of my radio show), as well as some imaging for radio stations in Oneonta (NY), Flint (MI), and Monterey (CA) that my boss was consulting. Along the way, I voiced a few industrial videos and plenty of commercials, too, but I have forgotten when and for whom.
I have always found voiceover work relatively easy. If someone else provides the copy, I'll usually nail it in a take or two, so there's no time pressure -- unlike commercial work, which can involve many more takes because the client or agency rep doesn't feel like they're getting value for their money. In their mind, for what they're paying me, it doesn't matter if I did it perfectly the first time. I should sit there for a half-hour or more and keep doing it over and over until my throat is raw.
Broadcasters, on the other hand, want it quick and clean -- faster than you can say, "Oprah...with Dave...tomorrow!"
Previously on Harris Online...